A Sleek Residence for Prague’s New Wave of City Dwellers

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A two-level duplex with three bedrooms and two terraces in Rezidence Quadrio.CreditCreditSvoboda & Williams

By Fiona Gaze

Feb. 26, 2015

PRAGUE — On Nov. 17, Prague marked the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism. Thousands turned out on the streets of the historic city center to celebrate the public holiday — and to protest the current government — and many of the day’s happenings took place around the avenue of Narodni Trida, just as in 1989.

In a telling juxtaposition of just how far the Czech capital has come since then, November also marked another occasion for Narodni Trida: The long-awaited reconstructed subway station of the same name and a new office and shopping center both opened with much fanfare, and an adjacent apartment complex, Rezidence Quadrio, opened in December. As one of very few newly built residences in the city center, the sleek, glass-fronted complex is a nod both to innovative, modern design and to what the architect Jakub Cigler of Cigler Marani Architects, which designed the complex, calls “the new wave” in Prague city living.

“For me, the new wave means people looking for an apartment in the city, ideally in the center, instead of out in the suburbs,” Mr. Cigler said. “People are tired of waiting daily on busy highways toward the center every morning and in the opposite direction in the evening.”

Indeed, the popularity of Rezidence Quadrio — with its 19 luxury, modern units — has exceeded all expectations of the Prague real estate company CPI, which teamed up with Cigler Marani Architects on the project.

Despite CPI’s initial desire to build only an office and retailing space, the district of Prague 1, which includes the Jewish Quarter and parts of New Town, insisted that there be a residential component in its drive to reverse a decline since 1989 in the percentage of residents living in the city center.

Mr. Cigler links this decline to rent increases and the more immediate demand for office space in downtown Prague. “Similarly as in Berlin, city representatives here were trying to get developers to convert their projects for hotels or offices into residences” to stop the exodus, he said.

“There is an increasing number of people willing to move back to the city center; it is clearly more comfortable to keep a car in an underground lot and walk to the office, restaurants or a gallery or theater.”

At Rezidence Quadrio, of the 18 units already purchased, 60 percent of buyers are Czechs, said Prokop Svoboda, managing partner of Svoboda & Williams, which is handling the sales of the luxury apartments. The remaining apartment, at 172 square meters, or about 1,850 square feet, is a split-level duplex that has three bedrooms and is on the second and third floors of the building. With a price tag of 20.4 million Czech korunas, or about $845,000, the apartment has two terraces totaling 140 square feet, and two underground parking spaces.

Previously, the lot sat for decades as a weedy concrete courtyard and run-down transit hub. A large shopping center next to it dates from 1969 and is still open.

Now, the Quadrio residence and retailing complex forms a backdrop to the courtyard, which is abuzz with new cafes and restaurants and home to a large, rotating metallic sculpture of Franz Kafka’s head by the Czech artist David Cerny that mirrors the reflective design of the complex. With the newly opened metro station, Rezidence Quadrio easily connects to the system’s B line. Just steps from the Old Town border, the apartments are a five-minute walk from Wenceslas Square, the National Theater and the many options for dining, culture and nightlife that are packed into the city center.

The remaining apartment features an open-plan living area along with three bathrooms, a guest toilet and a utility room, as well as storage in the building’s cellar.

It was these cellars that offered what turned out to be the biggest surprise — and challenge — of the entire project. While digging into the foundations, the building crews discovered a series of well-preserved Gothic cellars dating from the early days of the New Town about 600 years ago.

Spalena Street, which fronts the transit hub at Narodni Trida, served as a medieval radial road leading to Old Town Square. Stone houses alongside the road were then constructed, the ground floors of which became cellars, once the street level was raised by one floor as flood protection.

The Czech National Heritage Institute was already involved in the project — its approval was required for crucial permits for development in the Unesco-protected city center — and upon the cellars’ discovery it sent a team of archaeologists to assess the site, bringing construction to a halt for about a year. In addition to gaining insight into medieval life in Prague, the archeologists found tombstones from a nearby Jewish cemetery and countless artifacts. In the end, the below-ground design of the Quadrio complex was modified slightly to allow for continued access to the cellars so that historians, and the public, can learn about the Prague of a millennium past.

Mr. Cigler said this and other constraints, along with the creative and bureaucratic process, took a total of four years, in addition to two years of actual construction, making it “the most challenging design and permit process I have ever experienced.” He attributed this to the nature and location of the project: “This site is probably the last one of its size in the city center.”

Rezidence Quadrio required about 60 permits in total from the district.

The modern design of the building, which is seven stories, fits well in the surroundings; the structure’s stone-hued walls and floor-to-ceiling glass windows create a seamless urban landscape. The interiors are light and airy, making the most of sprawling views over the rooftops. Jan Burian, a spokesman for CPI, said that Rezidence Quadrio succeeded in tying together Prague’s storied past and its bright future.

“Modern development does not necessarily destroy the historical character of the city when such a symbiosis is carried out well,” he said.

The new wave, as Mr. Cigler calls it, has its limits for new projects because of the lack of potential sites.

But Cigler Marani Architects has recently finished one on Petrske Namesti, also in New Town, and Cigler is in talks over three new projects in this vein.